Muso Issue 4

Muso Issue 4

WORLDLY WAYS
INSIDE :
IN THE STUDIO WITH MELBOURNE SKA ORCHESTRA & SOMETHING WITH NUMBERS,
BOSNIAN RAINBOW S AT SOUNDCHECK, NEW DJ SECTION, GEAR G ALORE!
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ISSUE 02
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ISSUE 03 • NOVEMBER 2012
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[2]
EARLY CHRISTMAS AT ELLAWAYS
W
ell the Mayans got it wrong ...
either that or our interpretation
of their calendar predicting
the end of the world on December 7 was
incorrect. Anyway, we’re all free to live
another day, another gig, another lug in
and out, another set of strings, another
look at that pedal or guitar you’ve had
your eyes on. May as well go for it now;
after all you thought you wouldn’t be
around. You’ve got a new lease of life make it a musical one. Tame Impala have
been making the most of their musical
life, traveling the globe appearing on
television shows in the UK and America
and playing to adoring crowds. They
even won respected UK magazine NME’s
annual poll for world’s best album. Now
they return to Australia to play to home
crowds who haven’t seen them in headline
mode for a couple of years. What a way
to end the year! Muso caught up with
Tama Impala main man Kevin Parker to
chat about the band’s whirlwind journey.
Then there’s our interview with
alt thinker and guitar virtuoso Omar
Rodriguez Lopez and Le Butcherettes
singer Teri Gender Bender about their new
band Bosnian Rainbows. Very much like
Prince in the way he churns out creative
material, Omar places greater importance
in the creative process than the end result.
In fact, as he discusses in our interview
at the band’s Melbourne sound check, a
lot of the time he will just shelve finished
projects, placing no pressure on himself to
ever release them. If you download the iPad
version of Muso, which you will find inside
one of the SPA title apps, you can view
footage of the interview and Corner gig.
Speaking of thoughts, Warner Music
came up with a great one when they
decided to release a local version of
Lenny Kaye’s (rock scribe and Patti
Smith guitarist) Nuggets album. Nuggets
is a compilation of obscure psychedelic,
garage rock tracks from the ‘60s. Warner
has not only just released a compilation
of Australian psy-garage tracks from the
‘60s but also put together a companion
piece on which current Australian rock
bands do covers of songs which appeared
on Kaye’s original Nuggets album.
As we love to do at Muso, we catch
up with not one but two bands in the
studio. Muso witnesses Something With
Numbers and Melbourne Ska Orchestra
as they complete songs, mould material
and get it down on tape. Also in this
issue, we introduce a DJ section. Those
much maligned DJs are creative types
too! We introduce you to two new artists,
Nigel Wearne and Joel Havea, and of
course we bring you a truckload of new
gear to investigate. It’s all inside this
issue of Muso ... digest it now, but leave
room for your Christmas pudding!
GREG PHILLIPS
Muso Editor
CREDITS
MUSO. ISSUE 4 - DECEMBER 2012
PH: 03 9421 4499 FAX: 03 9421 1011
ADDRESS: 584 Nicholson St Nth Fitzroy 3068
WEBSITE: www.themusic.com.au
EDITOR: Greg Phillips
greg@streetpress.com.au
DISTRIBUTION ENQUIRIES:
distribution@streetpress.com.au
LAYOUT & DESIGN: Matt Davis
IPAD EDITION: Dave Harvey
CONTRIBUTORS: Reza Nasseri, Nyssa
Bradsworth, Shannon Bourne, Baz Bardoe,
Sean Pollard, Michael Smith, Chris Wilson,
Barry Gilmour, Paul Dengate, Scott Cherry.
PHOTOGRAPHER: Elaine Reyes (cover pic)
PRINTED BY: Rural Press
Published by Street Press Australia PTY LTD
The new single,
She’s My Baby, from
Melbourne four-piece
Kingswood, was
recorded at Woodstock
Studios in east St
Kilda by inhouse
(and the band’s live)
engineer Cam Trewin
and mastered by
Brian Lucey (The
Black Keys, The
Sheepdogs) at Magic
Garden Mastering in
Columbus, Ohio.
American singersongwriter Willy Mason
recorded his third
album, Carry On, in a
small South London
studio with its owner,
producer Dan Carey
(Bats For Lashes, Hot
Chip, Franz Ferdinand).
Former American Music
Club mainman Mark
Eitzel recorded his
seventh solo album,
Don’t Be A Stranger,
with coproducer
Sheldon Gomberg at
The Carriage House
in Los Angeles.
The new album, The
Other Side, from
regular Canadian
visitor Tim Chaisson,
was recorded at The
Woodshed Studio
in Toronto, which is
owned and operated
by renowned Canadian
band Blue Rodeo,
under the guidance
of producer Colin
Linden (Bruce
Cockburn, Blackie
& the Rodeo Kings,
Lucinda Williams).
Former Jam/Stiff Little
Fingers bass player
Bruce Foxton has
finally got around
to cutting his
second album,
Back In The Room,
nearly 30 years
after his first,
recording it at his
old offsider Paul
Weller’s Black Barn
Studios, Weller playing
on three tracks.
Steely Dan’s Donald
Fagen coproduced his
latest album, Sunken
Condos, with Michael
Leonhart, recording
at Candyland, Hirsch
Studios, Sear Sound,
Avatar, Audio Paint,
Stratosphere and
Pat Dillett’s studio.
Fade, the new album
from Yo La Tengo, was
recorded with John
McEntire (Bright Eyes,
Stereolab, Teenage
Fanclub ) at Soma
Studios in Chicago.
Ellaways Music will be setting a new trend this year
by having their January sale pre-Christmas. Their
‘Pre-Christmas Mega Sale’ will run for 12 days,
from 13th until 24th December at their Kedron
and Underwood stores. The sale will be on new
and pre-loved guitars, brass, woodwind, amps, PA
equipment, drums and various other instruments.
When asked specifically why the January sale
would be advanced, Kedron Store Manager, Anthony
Beveridge, said “At Ellaways Music we’ve always tried
to remain as relevant as possible to our customers.
Next year we will have been in business for fifty years,
and as retailers seen some ups and downs. This year,
given many are doing it tough, with increased costs,
we thought it made sense to bring the January sale
forward to Christmas and give our customers a treat.”
Musicians can expect to see a great selection of
products from Ibanez, Fender, Gibson, Takamine,
Maton, Roland, Lag, Gretsch, Drum Craft, Yamaha
and many more at heavily reduced prices.
“There is over $1 million worth of stock to
clear and there will be unprecedented discounts,”
said Anthony. “Across some lines we have seventy
per cent off the recommended retail price.”
www.ellaways.com.au
GALLIN BUYS ALLANS + BILLY HYDES
The fall of Allans + Billy Hydes sent the music
gear industry into a spin this year, but it seems it’s
all falling into place again with most of the former
AMG wholesale brands finding a new home and
now Con Gallin acquiring the Billy Hydes name…
and hopefully securing work for many of those whose
future seemed uncertain leading up to Christmas. It
was announced on November 28th that Mr. Gallin
had negotiated with the receivers, Ferrier Hodgson,
for the purchase of the bulk of the Allans Music and
Billy Hyde assets, including the trading names Allans
Music and Billy Hyde, Allans Billy Hyde, Australian
Music Group, Musiclink and Intermusic, together
with their associated domain names and websites.
Mr. Gallin also confirmed that the flagship stores
at Southport (Qld), Sydney, Alexandria, Parramatta
(all NSW), Adelaide (SA) and Blackburn and Bourke
Street, Melbourne (Vic) will continue to trade. Mr.
Gallin also confirmed that the majority of the staff
currently working in these stores will remain.
The current liquidation sale taking place in
the Allans Billy Hyde stores will continue with
AMI/Gallin’s adding additional stock from their
warehouse and suppliers to give consumers additional
discounted items right in time for Christmas.
www.gallinsmps.com.au
www.allansbillyhyde.com.au
WIN
A SET OF AUDIO
TECHNICA HEADPHONES
The folks at Audio Technica had named this year The
Year of the Headphone and to celebrate released a
swag of quality phones for all occasions. Muso has two
pair on offer; a set of Premium Open Back ADX700s
(RRP $295) for professional use and the more fashion
orientated WS77 on-ear phones (RRP $99.95).
AT PREMIUM OPEN BACK AD SERIES
Usually in the studio closed-back headphones
are used for monitoring purposes. However
OPEN-Back headphones are also great for
bands and DJs when mixing too.
AT WS77
These on-ear headphones feature interchangeable
coloured discs, flat cables and wind-up mechanism.
T SHIRT AND STICKERS
For your chance to win a set of phones, a T-shirt
and stickers, simply email Muso at: greg@
streetpress.com.au and leave your details.
Nick Cave & the
Bad Seeds recorded
their new album,
Push the Sky Away,
to be released in
February, at La
Fabrique, a studio
based in a 19th
Century mansion
in the South of
France, with producer
Nick Launay (Yeah
Yeah Yeahs, Arcade
Fire, Grinderman,
The Living End).
Bernard Fanning
is currently in Los
Angeles finally
recording his second
album, the followup to his incredibly
successful debut, Tea
& Sympathy, which
he promises will be
nothing like that
album, with producer
Joe Chiccarelli.
Biffy Clyro release
their new album,
Opposites,
recorded in LA with
producer GGGarth
Richardson (Red
Hot Chili Peppers,
Rage Against The
Machine), February 1.
Gold Fields began
recording their
debut album, Black
Sun, summer of
2011, decamping
to LA to spend six
weeks working with
producer Mickey
Petralia (Ladytron,
Peaches). On
returning home, the
five-piece retreated
to a remote manor
farm and continued
writing more
songs, which they
subsequently
recorded with
Scott Horscroft
(The Presets,
Silverchair) as
co-producer/
engineer.
Recording and
editing of the new
and sixth album,
Bomb The World
(With Kindness), from
Sydney three-piece
Finn, which includes
guest contributions
from, among others,
former Status Quo
bass player Alan
Lancaster, was done
at bandleader and
producer Jim Finn’s
24-track digital
home studio Front
Room Productions,
and mastered by
John Bee (Hoodoo
Gurus, The Church,
Icehouse).
Gear
News
ARIA GUITARS WORLD
ARIA, the Japanese guitar
company (not the Australian
Record Industry Association)
has been in operation since 1953,
but in 2012 are as techo-savvy
as any of the major instrument
manufacturers. They’re currently
promoting their YouTube
channel, ARIA Guitars World,
which features demos and
performances of musicians
using ARIA product.
ARIA released some
great product this year
including models in their
PE Series, which was
first introduced in the
‘70s. The PE range has
become a classic of
the ARIA range and
the PE-1500 RI is a
reissue of the very first
PE model ever made.
The latest model in the
PE Series is the ARIA Pro II PE-DC. The top is
made from carved solid maple, the back solid African
mahogany, ebony neck and mahogany and maple
neck. Pickups are two gold-covered humbuckers.
Controls include volume, tone and three-position
switch. It includes Gotoh machine heads.
ARIA also make a quality range of
acoustics including the AD-18 (pictured),
which features spruce top, mahogany neck,
back and sides and rosewood fingerboard.
www.promusicaustralia.com
KLOTZ SIGNATURE
SERIES JOE
BONAMASSA
CABLE RANGE
Australian music
gear distributor CMC
Music is pleased
to announce that
they are now
the Australian
distributor for
KLOTZ AIS range
of MI cables.
KLOTZ a.i.s.
signature cables are
named after top artists
on the international concert
and recording scene, including
Scorpions guitarist Matthias Jabs and iconic bassist
TM Stevens, and designed in partnership with them.
“KLOTZ cables have long been my cables of
choice because of their outstanding quality and
fantastic sound,” says Joe Bonamassa. “As the
logical next step, KLOTZ and I got together
at a concert in Munich last year to discuss a
partnership – and this cable is the first result.
The KLOTZ a.i.s. Joe Bonamassa signature
cable offers uncompromising quality and is
ideal for studio work, but rugged enough to
cope with the life of a touring musician.”
The new Joe Bonamassa Signature Cable by
KLOTZ a.i.s. is available from music retailers
worldwide, as an instrument cable and a patch
cable, with straight or angled connectors. The new
Signature Cable features the high-quality Golden
Tip jack made in Germany by KLOTZ Cables.
www.cmcmusic.com.au
MUSE BASSIST CHRIS
WOLSTENHOLME AND MARKBASS
The people at MarkBass are thrilled that
Chris Wolstenholme, bassist for Muse, used
MarkBass gear on the recording of the band’s latest
album, The 2nd Law, and has been using a Markbass
rig on tour. In the studio, he used a MoMark SD800
into a Standard 104HF cabinet and an SD1200 into
a Classic 152 cab. On the road he’s being amplified
through two SD1200 heads and four Standard
151HR cabinets.
Check out the album and the live show
to hear Chris’ massive bass tone!
For more Muse information and their tour
schedule, visit www.muse.mu. MarkBass is
distributed in Australian by CMC Music.
www.cmcmusic.com.au.
[3]
Muso’s Greg Phillips finds
a precious 20-minute hole
in Kevin Parker’s busy
schedule to chat about life as an
international act and the current
Tame Impala Australian tour.
R
eleased in October this year, Tame Impala’s
critically acclaimed second album Lonerism
swirls, meanders, shimmers, sways and
radiates joy. It takes you back and it takes you away
and now it even contains hits, international hits.
The unsmistakable loping bassline of the single
Elephant emanating from a Beatles-style Hofner
bass was recently viewed by millions of people when
the band performed on UK TV’s Later… With
Jools Holland. On the other side of the Atlantic,
they had already played popular American TV
talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live. The killer punch
however was winning NME’s respected album of
the year poll a couple of weeks ago, ahead of artists
such as Grimes, Alt-J, Jack White, Beach House
and Cat Power. Interestingly, Pond, which features
Tame Impala’s Nick Allbrook and Jay Watson,
came in at number ten, and the album by French
artist Melody’s Echo Chamber, which Tame’s
mainman Kevin Parker produced, was also highly
placed at number 16. For Tame Impala, this is their
moment… the moment most bands dream of.
Tame Impala’s overseas sojourn had created
the perfect storm. The music media created the
buzz and the band backed it up with amazing
performances on TV and on stage. The Boston
gig was a stand out for Parker. “They were all
memorable in some way but I think Boston, which
is kind of a university city, was pretty crazy,” he
explains. “For some reason heaps of people got
up on stage and started causing trouble. There
was heaps of crowd surfing going on. Our guys
had to try to keep it all in order without ruining
the party.” The television performances were new
territory for the guys too. “Jools Holland was only
our second ever TV performance,” said Kevin. “It
was crazy for us working on this extremely tight
schedule. There are things happening every two
seconds and people waving their arms around and
holding signs. We were in this room with like
seven other bands all set up at the same time.”
With so many great artists appearing on the show
including Sinead O’Connor, the Impala members
kept to themselves, choosing not to socialise,
apart from Parker who was obligated to have
his photo taken shaking hands with the host.
Merely two days after arriving back in the
country, from “Paris, I guess”, a jet-lagged
Parker tells me through a stifled yawn, he’s at
an airport again. This
time he’s leaving his
hometown of Perth to
embark on their first
headlining Australian
tour for two years.
Playing to international
audiences and playing
bigger shows in general,
you’d assume that the
band’s gear would need
a re-think. As Parker
tells though, they have
never stopped in their
quest to find new and
interesting music gear.
“We are always on
the hunt for cool and
new things. Not that
we necessarily have
the money but we buy
things and then work it
out later,” he says. “We
buy new gear all of the
time. We are always
looking for new ways
to change the sound,
screw with the sound.”
At this point in
the interview, Parker’s
voice trails off as he
recognises an old
school friend at the
airport. A short chat
ensues between them
before a very tired
Parker realises what
he was doing a couple
of minutes prior and
rejoins our conversation.
I reminded him we
were discussing gear
and he informs me of
his favourite new stage
toy. “A thing called an
Empress Compressor,”
he says. “It changes
the level of the sound
when you plug in other
instruments. I plug the
keyboard into this thing
and hook that up to
the guitar and then the
keyboard changes the
volume of the guitar.
The instruments are
interacting with each
other, which is kind
of a new thing. We
never used to be able
to do that in a live
environment but we
can do it these days.”
As Tame Impala’s
international notoriety
is a very recent
phenomenon, nothing
has really changed in
a financial sense, not
yet anyway. They still
only tour with the
guitars that they each
own, plus one spare.
“We just take three,”
confirms Parker. “We
have two guitarists and
we have a spare guitar
just in case something
catastrophic happens
but we actually use that
at the end of the set.
There is a part where
we have three guitars
going. We generally
travel pretty light, we
don’t like to take more
than we need to... more
stuff to carry.” Parker’s
guitar is a Rickenbacker
he bought in Japan
about three years ago
but he didn’t start using
just using a Space Echo now. I was thinking
about getting a Chorus or something but at the
moment, just the Space Echo. It has a pretty
nice sounding delay and has reverb as well.”
The public first got a glimpse of Lonerism in
October, but for the band it’s been a while since
completion and on the road, the songs are beginning
to take on a new life. “The way we recorded them
is so different to the way we play them live,” says
Parker. “In the studio it is just me doing all of the
stuff then we play them live and there’s a bunch of
us and its a different environment altogether. Some
of them are longer or shorter. We take the essence
of the song and try to interpret it live.” Initially
Parker thought that these songs had so much
production in them that they would never be able
to be reproduced live on stage. “I was thinking that
there was absolutely no way we were going to be
able to do it,” he exclaims. “At the time, when I was
recording, I was kind of resigned to the idea that
we wouldn’t be touring it. I got tired of it anyway,
because touring has that effect on you… you get sick
of it. I was keen for it just to be a recording project
and not tour it. There are so many layers on the
songs... I didn’t even think it was possible. I wasn’t
really looking outside the square at that time.”
Another consideration for a band whose star
is on the rise, is keeping audiences worldwide
interested in what they are doing up on stage. An
internationally touring band has to put on a show.
Parker, however, has always thought about how the
WE BUY NEW GEAR ALL OF THE
TIME. WE ARE ALWAYS LOOKING
FOR NEW WAYS TO CHANGE THE
SOUND, SCREW WITH THE SOUND.”
it immediately after
purchase. “I didn’t know
how to control it,” he
says. “There was too
much feedback and
crazy stuff going on. I
didn’t have the nerve
to use it until recently.”
Kevin plugs his black
and white Ricky into
two amplifiers, a
keyboard amp he uses
to get a di sound and
a Vox AC30. For vocal
effects, Parker has
changed up from the
Roland VE20 he had
been using. “I’m actually
band are perceived live. It’s a thought which is never
too far from his mind. “We have always tried to
do things in the set which is not strictly about the
songs. It just makes it more interesting and less like
we are just playing song after song. It is more of a
journey.” One of visual tricks Tame Impala use on
stage is an Oscilloscope, which is “like a laser beam
which draws the visual representation of the music
the band is playing,” explains Parker. “It’s pretty
fun and I am getting better at using it as well.”
While Tama Impala is Parker’s main project,
he keeps his fingers in many musical pies to avoid
boredom. One of the 2012 side projects he was
involved in was producing the Melody’s Echo
Chamber album, a disc which has his fingerprints
all over it. “I just got to be the hands of the album,
basically,” he says. “I have never had that opportunity
to be a producer. I had to think strictly artistically.
TC Electronic PolyTune
Boss TU-3 Tuner Pedal
Boss AB-2 2-Way
Selector
Electro Harmonix Holy
Grail Reverb Pedal
Electro Harmonix
Holy Grail Nano
Reverb Pedal
Boss BD-2 Blues driver
Dunlop DVP1 Volume
Pedal or Ernie Ball
Volume Pedal
Boss VE-20 Vocal
Performer
Boss FV-50L
Volume Pedal
Boss FS-5U Footswitch
Dunlop Cry Baby
Wah Pedal
Dunlop MXR
Carbon Copy Analog
Delay Pedal
Dunlop MXR
Dyna Comp
Compression Pedal
Boss BD-2 Blues driver
DOD FX25 Envelope
Filter Pedal (or
possibly an FX60
Stereo Chorus Pedal)
or ZVex Seek Trem
and Empress ParaEq
Electro Harmonix
Small Stone
Phaser Pedal
Dunlop Fuzz Face
Fuzz Pedal
Diamond Vibrato Pedal
Moog Mooger
Fooger MF
105 MuRF or Boss
RE-20 Space Echo
Delay Pedal
Roland Space Echo
The music was really
cool. It was great to be
able to realise someone
else’s ideas.” Parker is
currently honing his
studio skills further
while helping his
bandmates mix the
next Pond album.
Any talk of Tame
Impala album number
three is premature. “I
only really have a few
ideas,” he says. “I don’t
really have a defined
idea but we’ll see. We
have a whole lot of
touring to do. When
we get back I will have
a good idea of what
we want to do. All of
the ideas I have at this
stage don’t even point
to an album. I can’t even
imagine an album at this
point, which is weird.
I am usually excited to
get onto the next one. I
just have too many ideas
that aren’t album related.
They are more… I don’t
know… something
else, which I can’t really
explain. Somewhere
between a recording
and a performance.
I don’t know!” Art, I
suggest? “Yeah maybe!
It just might be art.”
Parker is keen to to
find some time to rest. “I
don’t think we have done
a headline Australian
tour since 2010. It’s
just going to be good
to play Australia again.
I feel like we have
almost bypassed the
Australian people for
a while.” As for rest?
“Yeah I guess it will
happen at some stage…
if I am lucky enough!”
Tame Impala play the
Pyramid Rock festival
on Phillip Island from
Saturday 29 December
to Tuesday 1 January.
www.tameimpala
.com.au
Internationalism
[4]
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DrumCraft Series 4 Kit with SABIAN B8 Performance Set
999
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[5]
Lenny Kaye’s Nuggets
compilation of ‘60s era
psychedelia and garagestyle rock now has two local
companion albums. Greg
Phillips speaks to Mick
Hamilton from ‘60s Australian
band The Moods about the
albums, the era and that sound.
Nuggets: Original
Artyfacts From The
First Psychedelic
Era: 1965-1968
T
he Nuggets: Original Artyfacts From
The First Psychedelic Era: 1965-1968
compilation, put together by Patti Smith
guitarist and some-time rock scribe Lenny
Kaye in conjunction with Elektra Records
founder Jac Holzman in 1972, is a collection
of garage-rock obscurities from the ‘60s. Truth
be known, the term garage-rock wasn’t coined
until well after these long lost treasures had
been released. Forty years on, the set has been
re-released. To celebrate, Warner Music has also
put out a couple of companion albums. One is
Down Under Nuggets:
Original Australian
Artyfacts 1965-67
Plastic Gold
Antipodean
Interpolations Of The
First Psychedelic Era
an Australian version of Lenny Kaye’s original
concept featuring obscure Australian psychedelic
rock tunes from the same era by bands such as
The Elois, The Five and The Throb, alongside
more recognisable acts The Easybeats and The
Masters Apprentices. The other is a recreation
of Kaye’s Nuggets record with the tracks rerecorded by a bunch of current Australian acts
including Velociraptor, Davey Lane, Eagle
& The Worm, Pond and many others.
Mick Hamilton’s old band The Moods are
included on the Australian originals compilation
with a track titled Rum Drunk, one of only two
singles the band ever released in the early ‘60s.
Hamilton is as surprised as anyone to be speaking
with the media about songs he recorded more
than 40 years ago. “It’s nice to be remembered
and that people think you are relevant in some
sort of way,” he says of the belated interest. “We
only really released two singles. We did some
other recordings but none of them ever saw the
light of day. It was fairly common in those days.
A lot of people recorded and disappeared without
trace or the record companies decided it wasn’t
worth putting them out. We all had dreams
of being the next Beatles or Rolling Stones.
It took about five minutes for it to become
apparent that wasn’t going to happen. Once we
got past those dreams of glory, I guess we just
wanted a hit record and to have a good time.”
More than anything, what the Nuggets original
compilations have in common is a sound and
pioneering spirit. It’s a sound which many bands
today such as Tame Impala attempt to capture. Back
in the day, the gear was basic and it was very much a
case of experimentation when it came to recording.
“I was using a Fender Strat and a Goldentone 40watt amp,” recalls Hamiltion of his gear. “The lead
guitarist was using a semi-acoustic Burns guitar
through a 50-watt Vox. None of us have any of that
stuff anymore,” he laments. “On the B-side of the
[6]
really was a piece of
speaker mounted on
a carton, corrugated
cardboard.”
track that is on the
Nuggets album, I used
tremolo on my amp
to give a distinctive
sound and I used my
fingers instead of a pick
in a quasi-flamenco
style just to give it a
different sound. Our
other guitarist, John,
had a treble boost. It
wasn’t even a pedal, it
was a little box and he
used that to overdrive
the sound and make it
distorted before there
were even fuzz boxes.
What we knew about
recording in those days
you could put on the
back of a pin. We didn’t
have much to do with it.
We’d just come in with
the songs and perform
them. We didn’t have
any say about what went
on in the control booth.
It was probably twotrack, I can’t remember.
I don’t think four-track
came in until a couple
of years later. What you
hear was pretty much
what was performed.
There was very little
messing around, a
bit of echo maybe
and that was it.
We didn’t know
what we were
doing. It was
rudimentary and
learning as we go.
The bands, the
press, everyone
was learning on the
spot. If I recorded
that stuff today, I
couldn’t get that sound,
wouldn’t know how!”
A big part of
the Nuggets ‘sound’
was its lack of
focus on the bass
– it was very treble-based. The main reason
for this was that they didn’t have the speaker
technology to reproduce low bass frequencies.
“It was almost a concentrated effort on the
part of the engineer not to get any bass on the
record,” says Hamilton. “When I worked with
Festival Records in Sydney, which was more
corporate, they really went out of their way to
Lenny Kaye is as
surprised as anyone
at the adulation he
receives for his part
in bringing these
Nuggets to the fore.
“I’m still getting free
beers out of it!,” he
told me in 2008.
“The great thing
about Nuggets is that
it was a moment
in time that was as
inspirational as any
time in rock’n’roll. To
THE GREAT THING ABOUT NUGGETS IS
THAT IT WAS A MOMENT IN TIME
THAT WAS AS INSPIRATIONAL
AS ANYTIME IN ROCK AND ROLL.”
pull the bass right out. They claimed it would
distort on people’s radios. At the time we did
Rum Drunk, which is on Nuggets, at Armstrong
Studios, they used to have a three- or four-inch
speaker mounted on a piece of cardboard and
they would play the mix through that to see what
it sounded like – the reason being that it was the
kind of quality people would be listening to. It
be honest, I hardly
ever go uptown to
New York to see the
big international
bands. I still like
to go into the rock
clubs to see who is
doing what, to be
at the grass roots of
what’s happening. It
was a great moment
in time. I mean,
it was all over the
place. Garage rock
now is a very specific
style and while there
were many different
components to it
back then, what I
really liked about
it was that first
thought, that first
idea, that’s what
made it great.”
At 65 years old,
Hamilton continues
to play regularly
today, backing artists
such as Frankie J
Holden and Wilbur
Wilde, and he still
records occasionally.
Last year he recorded
an album with friend
Keith Glass in which
they attempted
capture that Nuggetsera sound. “We
attempted a bit
of a throwback to
the ‘60s and ‘70s
garage sound, almost
psychedelic. We had
a great time doing it
and it sounds pretty
good but it doesn’t
sound authentic.
We tried, we really
did! We had guys
from that time
and instruments
from the era, we
tried everything
we could but it just
sounds too slick.
It’s almost like you
learn too much in
the interim. There’s
a rudimentary
roughness that you
only get because you
can’t do it any better.
If you try to play
down to something
and you are a better
musician than you
are trying to be, it is
not going to work.
In the old days we
were stretching
the limits to be
the best we could
possibly be, which
wasn’t very good and
consequently made
it sound great.”
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[7]
Omar Rodriguez Lopez was
back in Australia with a brand
new band called Bosnian
Rainbows. Greg Phillips spoke
to Omar and lead singer
Teri Gender Bender about
the new project at their
Melbourne soundcheck.
A
year is a long time in music, especially if
you are Omar Rodriguez Lopez. Since I last
spoke to Omar, almost a year ago to the day,
he has reformed and toured with At The Drive-In,
released a new Mars Volta album, toured with that
band, finished and premiered another movie Los
Chidos, and was back in Australia with a completely new group
called Bosnian Rainbows. Then there are the others projects he
has also completed which have just been shelved, such as the
film documentation of last year’s ORL band Australian tour.
“We are doing things all of the time, for the sake of doing
them,” explained Omar. “The Australian film is a great
example. We made the film. It was a great thing. We showed
it to our friends. We cut it together, we all love it and then I
put it in the closet with three or four other films. For someone
who is very result orientated, if they don’t see it come out
or see it in a store, it’s like it didn’t happen. As a creative
person going through the process, it is quite the opposite. It’s
like, ‘We did it! It was amazing! Now what can we do?’”
So much happens in Omar’s creative life that he just loses
track of things. Another 2012 project he mentioned simply
because I reminded him, was an album he recorded with the
grandfather of exo-politics, Jordan Maxwell, a guy who bills
himself as a lecturer in the fields of ‘secret societies, occult
philosophies and UFO-ology.’ “It has all sorts of interesting
information on how the world works and how the American
Rainbow Connection
There’s more to this story
on the iPad
legal system works,” said Omar of the recording. “That was really
cool. I hope to put that out one day when I have the time.”
The musical project which Omar and Teri are now focusing
on, however, is Bosnian Rainbows. The band also features
Mars Volta drummer Deantoni Parks and keyboard player
Nicci Kasper, who plays with Parks in Dark Angels. The
music, unlike anything else Omar has been involved in, is a
real collaborative process encouraged by the need to shed his
former dictatorial ways. “It is a result of my life choices and a
new way of living,” said Omar. “This is a new group which is
completely a collaborative effort in every sense of the word. It is
impossible to even pinpoint a process with this group because
literally, everybody does everything. That was the thing when we
started this group; everybody had to be a composer, everybody
had to be a band leader in their own right. Everybody had to be
a producer and engineer and know how to record themselves.”
For Teri Gender Bender, being out front of Bosnian
Rainbows is also a liberating experience. “It is physically
amazing because I use my body as an instrument,” she said.
“I am moving everything and letting my body feel the music.
With Le Butcherettes, I’d always be focusing on the guitar or
not messing up the songs. Here, it is just… free.” Like Omar,
Teri has also been in collaboration mode and recently recorded
a couple of tracks with Latino superstar Carla Morrison. “We
had met before in Mexico. Everyone knows each other there.
She’s a songwriter, I am a songwriter, so being able to record
her song with her was very natural because of the friendship.”
The dilemma of being involved in so many contrasting
musical projects is that it would be difficult to continually
find a new sound, as opposed to just playing a variation on
a sonic theme. It’s suggested to Omar that using different
gear, such as a newly purchased guitar, would go some of the
way to altering his sound. Of course Omar sees it differently.
“ It is more of a thing of getting excited because it is a new
project,” he said. “The excitement of when you are entering
a new era of your life. Teri had certain things that she didn’t
want to do in this group that she did do in Le Butcherettes.
I had certain things that I didn’t want to do in this group
that I did in my old group, so that is also a defining factor.
“The quickest way to define it is knowing what you don’t want
to do. For example, I didn’t want cymbals or hi-hats. There’s no
bass guitar. Deantoni said he didn’t want certain things and same
with Nicki, so you throw it all out and you start the fun part of it.”
“Yes it (the new guitar) is wonderful and a good example because
that happened quite by chance. We were in Chicago flying out
to Europe to start a tour. I happened to go with a friend to a
guitar store. Guitar stores never have anything left handed. Here
was this 1967 left handed Supro miniature guitar and I knew
from the moment I grabbed it that it is all I want to play from
now on, and the same with flat wound strings. I knew it was the
guitar for this group. It is a shorter scale so the higher part of
the guitar is missing so all the really annoying notes are gone.”
www.rodriguezlopezproductions.com
OMAR AND TERI UPDATE
At The Drive In?
“For me it was rekindling this love affair with these guys that I grew
up with, righting some wrongs and getting to now each other and the
different families after ten years of not speaking to each other. I spent
eleven years saying I would never play with them again and then I
played with them. I know now not to say never. Cedric has a wonderful
record coming out that he is focussing on. It is a really exciting
time for all of us because we are all doing something different.”
The Mars Volta?
“Put that to rest for now but who knows what will happen
in the future, but it is a whole new era for everybody.”
Le Butcherettes?
“We’ll hopefully put the Le Butcherettes record out at the end of
this year so next year we can be focussed on Bosnian Rainbows.”
Bosnian Rainbows album?
“Early next year as well.”
[8]
The best advise you can give a musician...
Nigel Wearne recently released
a great folk album titled Black
Crow, featuring a warmth and
genuineness which will seduce
anyone with a real musical heart.
Wearne is also an accomplished
luthier and chats to Muso about
all the aspects of his craft.
Making Plans
What materials do you generally
use for your guitars and from where
do you source your timber?
I use a mixture of traditional timbers and whatever
I can get my hands on. My latest guitar (a 000-12
Martin copy) has a Sitka Spruce soundboard
and Ebony fretboard which are both traditional
timbers. The sides and back are Blackwood, which
is now a contemporary and common option for
instruments, due to its fantastic and unique tone.
The timber I used for my latest guitar was grown
in the Otways and sourced through a good friend
of mine who is a luthier. The bracing is Oregon
sourced from some old bed rails I found in my
dad’s shed. In the past I’ve used Blackwood and
Western Red Cedar sourced from Mitre 10.
How many instruments have you produced?
I’ve built a Martin-style dreadnought, a disastrous
12-string, four lapsteels, a Weissenborn slide
guitar, a square-neck dobro, a backpacking travel
guitar and a 1920s-style 000-12 Martin copy. It’s
taken me anywhere from 20 hours to 200 hours to
build a guitar depending on how involved it is.
Are you building an instrument at the moment?
At the moment I’m pretty busy with releasing
my new album Black Crow, so unfortunately I
don’t really have much time at the moment to
be building guitars. I’m hoping to start building
my next guitar over summer, a Martin-style 0-12
next. It’s basically a smaller version of a 000.
Over what period of
time was the album
recorded and how
long were sessions?
Black Crow was recorded
over three days. The
sessions were about six
to eight hours per day
but with some breaks
throughout the day. I
spent time in the night
recording the quieter
songs that didn’t require
full instrumentation.
How did you mic the
acoustic instruments
and what kind of
mics did you use?
I left the mic selection
to Mick Wordley. The
vocal was a beautiful
1946 chrome-top
Neumann U-47 – an
original, so it was a real
treat. I’ve used that mic
with Mick before and
it really suits my voice.
My guitar had stereomatched Shoeps pencil
mics, Dan’s mandolin
had a Neumann KM84,
Kat’s fiddle and viola
had a Royer 141 ribbon.
Andy’s bass had a
AEA ribbon mic and
we had a couple of
Neumann room mics.
With the back-up
vocals, we had a couple
of Sennheisser dynamic
mics. It was recorded
dry to Pro Tools and
then mixed in Adelaide
at Mixmasters. Mick
ran it through all his
analogue gear to give it
that ‘tapey’ retro sound.
www.nigelwearne.com
,-/-
-*
-
ONLINE AND IN STORE
UÊÕ}iÊ,>}i
}i
UÊ iÃÌÊ À>`Ã
`Ã
UÊ
«iÌÌÛiÊ*ÀViÃ
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It took a four-year stint away
from his hometown for Joel
Havea to deliver his debut album.
Greg Phillips speaks to him prior
to his homecoming shows.
iÃÊ/i>
UÊ
Ý«iÀÌÊ->iÃÊ/i>
I
n any Australian city, on any night of the
week, you’ll find a band or singer-songwriter
baring their soul on a stage in a venue of
some description. Spare a thought also for those
Australian artists who left our shores to seek fame,
Havea Good Time
fortune or just a gig somewhere other than in their
own backyard. Joel Havea had been enjoying an
ever-increasing fanbase with his band The Havea
Brothers in Melbourne before deciding to backpack
Europe with nothing much more than his guitar
slung across his shoulder. “I was backpacking with
my guitar and had been on the road for about ten
months,” explains Havea. “I had no return ticket
back to Australia and went to Berlin on a whim,
then fell in love with the place and stayed for five
months. After that I moved to Hamburg and it’s
now been four years and counting. I guess I’m the
sort of guy who just goes with the flow and when
you remain open for change and new experiences,
it’s funny where the road can take you.”
Havea has been building a new audience in
Hamburg playing regular solo gigs on the famous
‘sinful mile’, also known as the Reeperbahn. “There
is an awesome music scene here,” says Havea of
his current home. “The city has a great tradition
of music from The Beatles all the way to German
hip hop, which has its roots in Hamburg.” It’s been
a long time coming, but Havea has just released
his debut album, You Make Me Believe. The most
difficult part of completing the album was culling
down a life’s worth of songs into a single record. “It
was hard to leave certain songs off the final cut,” says
Havea. “It was a matter of finding the right balance
of songs for the album as a whole, and also trusting
my producer’s [Achille
Fonkam] advice.”
Havea’s music has
much in common with
fellow troubadours
such as Jack Johnson
and Ben Harper.
He is thrilled to
be finally coming
home to Australia to
play the new album
tracks to audiences
in Melbourne and
Sydney over summer.
He’ll be bringing his
trusted Maton EM325
acoustic with him,
which he sees more as a
companion than a tool
of his trade, as well as a
more recently acquired
Martin D35, which he
recorded most of the
album’s guitar parts on.
“It has an amazing full,
rich and warm tone
and as soon as I first
strummed it I knew I
had to buy it,” he says
of the Martin. “I play
with my guitar tuned
down to D-standard
and use a thicker string
gauge. My guitar style
is quite rhythmic and
groove-based and I
find the looseness of
the strings helps to
add an extra percussive
element.”
Joel Havea plays
the Northcote Social
Club in Melbourne
on Wednesday 19
December, Baha Tacos
in Rye on Saturday 22,
and the Backroom in
Sydney on Thursday 27.
i«}
ÕÃV>Ã
À
Ó£Ê9i>ÀÃ
(03) 9486 8555
www.mannys.com.au
161-163 ST GEORGES ROAD, FITZROY NORTH
www.joelhavea.com
[9]
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[11]
Adam Ward knows clubs and
club sound. Ward speaks
to Muso about both.
For someone used to the magnitude of the
Euro dance festivals and the elaborate clubs
there and in America, Adam is disappointed that
Australian club owners havenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t approached their
venues with the same adventurous spirit as their
overseas counterparts. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Sound systems are such an
auditory and visceral experience. It really needs
to be where you spend a lot of your money, most
of them here donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t realise that,â&#x20AC;? said Adam.
dj
Full Throttle is the Australian distributor of
Funktion One sound systems, which Ward believes
are currently the best in the world. â&#x20AC;&#x153;There are a lot of
clubs in Ibiza using Funktion One which is the club
Mecca. There area lot of clubs in Vegas, New York,
and Miami that are sporting Funktion One. They are
the epitome night club system. Funktion One really
owns the electronic music market. They just did a
Funktioning Sound
vote of the ten best night clubs in America and I
think six out of the ten have Funktion One systems.â&#x20AC;?
F
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll get a client
come to you and they
will have an idea,â&#x20AC;?
explained Ward. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Are
they doing rock bands
or DJs? We specialise
in hi-end DJs like
Tiesto and Armand Van
Helden people like that.
We specialise in clubs
that they would play in.
With some of the clubs,
money is no option,
theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll say we donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t care
what it costs just build it.
Once you get the design
brief, you sit down and
look at the space, work
with the architects and
come up with what is
best suited to the space.â&#x20AC;?
ull Throttle
Entertainment
Director Adam
Ward has toured with
legends such as Tony
Bennett and Frankie
Valli and experienced
everything in the sound
game from production
management to tour
management to front of
house engineering and
PA design. He worked
in America for 14 years
in both LA and Vegas.
He knows PA and has
seen the DJ market grow
extensively worldwide.
Ward specialises in the
design of sound systems
for venues, but how does
one design a PA system?
Ward has seen a lot in the club world. One of
his most memorable experiences was working a
club in Vegas when Prince called up and decided
heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d like to play a weekend of intimate shows.
The venue was also booked for Tiesto, who at the
time was the biggest DJ in the world. prince was
contracted to finish at a certain time to allow for PA
swap over for Tiesto. prince decided on his second
night to play two hour over time, leaving a 3,00o
strong Tiesto crowd seething outside. â&#x20AC;&#x153;they were
seething and ready to burst out of their skin. This
wave of energy came over the venue as these kids
rolled in. The DJ dropped the needle onto the first
vinyl and the place went instantly into mayhem. It
didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t finish until about 11 oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;clock the next day.â&#x20AC;?
With his company and the Funktion One brand,
Adam Ward is on a mission. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I believe in sound. It
is a passion for me not just a job. What I want to
do with Sydney and Australia is introduce people to
that really high end audio that I experienced overseas
and show people what you can do with sound.â&#x20AC;?
www.fullthrottleentertainment.com.au
Spins!
Spins
PIONEER CDJ200 NEXUS
The new Pioneer
CDJ-200 Nexus units
have dropped with a
brand new feature set,
including the expected
wireless Rekordbox
functionality, tempo and
beat synchronization,
color-based key
indicators, advanced
slip modes for loops,
reverse, and scratching.
The development
of a new beat sync
and quantization engine
now synchronization very
possible on CDJs.
A nother great new
addition is the Slip
features, which allow
a user to scratch,
looproll, or reverse
without affecting the
actual playhead time.
NUMARK 66/
IDJPRO
iDJ Pro from Numark is a
professional DJ controller
that expands your
iPadâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s touch interface,
seamlessly integrating
with Algoriddimâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
djay app for iPad to
form a completely
new DJ experience.
W
hile the
DJ market
and dance
parties in general get
bigger, the gear used to
entertain the masses gets
smaller and easier to use.
Andre Cato has been
in the DJ business for
longer than he cares to
remember and can attest
to the giant leaps and
bounds DJ products have
taken since he began.
Cato now works as a
marketing consultant for
Australiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s biggest DJ
product retailer Store DJ.
The DJ market in Australia is
expanding and as Andre Cato
explains, so is Store DJ.
Store DJ Mega Store
With stores already in
Melbourne, Sydney and
Brisbane, the company is
now expanding with the
opening of their biggest
store yet in Cannington,
Perth. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Store DJ sells
between 70 and 80 per
cent of all DJ equipment
in Australia,â&#x20AC;? says Andre.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Perth store is twice
the size of any of our
other stores. The new
lighting system they
have in Perth is quite
amazing. All of the
staff have iPads. They
can flip through all of
the different pictures of
the lights on the iPad,
touch any one of them
and that light will turn
on in the store. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a
really interactive way of
demonstrating the range
of lighting effects they
have to show off the toys.â&#x20AC;? Store DJ has chosen its
staff wisely and now has an expert team knowledgeable
with all the latest DJ products, a necessity considering
the ever-changing DJ landscape. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Digital,â&#x20AC;? says Andre
in explanation of the direction the DJ market is
heading. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Everything is moving towards iOS. These
musical DJs can walk into a club with everything
synced and quantised on their computer. DJs are now
playing 40-50 tracks an hour. They will play a loop
from one song, a bass line from another, a drum beat
will come from somewhere else, and suddenly they
have their own twist and flavour without having seven
decks to perform that. It is very much moving into the
mobile world. You can see that very clearly with what
Pioneer are doing, who have started to incorporate
wi-fi into their gear.â&#x20AC;? Store DJ stock all of the
significant DJ brands and are thrilled to be the first
official retail outlet for the Funktion One PA brand.
Store DJ Cannington opens Wedensday 12 December.
www.storedj.com.au
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[12]
OUT
NOW
VISIT WWW.THEMUSIC.COM.AU/STORE
[13]
IN THE STUDIO
WITH
Something
With Numbers
It’ll be five years since they
released their last album when
NSW Central Coast-based
five-piece Something With
Numbers land their fourth LP
next year, but as frontman Jake
Grigg explains to Michael
Smith, they’re doing things a
little differently anyway.
F
rom the street, you wouldn’t know there’s
a high-tech recording facility tucked
away in a sleepy corner of inner-western
Sydney’s Annandale, but that’s just what you have
in Jungle Studios. It’s a relatively new recording
facility boasting an SSL 4056 EG with Total
Recall Automation, imported from one of New
York City’s biggest studios. NSW Central Coastbased five-piece Something With Numbers have
been ensconced in the studio working on their
fourth album with the studio’s co-owner, producer
Lachlan Mitchell, who produced their first album,
2004’s Etiquette, and was nominated for an ARIA
this year for his work on The Jezabels’ Prisoner
album (he also runs Attic Studios in Glebe).
“I guess I just wanted to work with him again,”
said the band’s singer, songwriter and, though
he admits his limitations, now proudly third
guitarist, Jake Grigg explained the decision to
rekindle the working relationship with Mitchell.
“We already had a relationship with him so
half of the point of when you start a record
with a producer is that initial period of trying
to get to know the person. We already knew
Lachlan, so we didn’t have to go through all
that red tape – we just got straight into it.”
Something With Numbers recorded their last
album, Engineering The Soul, back in 2008 with
American producer Tim O’Heir (Dinosaur Jr.,
The All-American Rejects) in Mission Sound
Studios in New York. The band has gone through
a few changes in the interim, guitarist Lachlan
Scott opting out to start a family and work as
a substitute teacher at a selective catholic high
school on the Central Coast, replaced by Trent
Crawford, and similarly drummer Dave McBeath
has moved on and been replaced by Lachlan West,
who also plays in The Vines. The other founding
guitarist, Tim Crocker, is still very much part
of the firm. That’s perhaps prompted Grigg to
approach the recording process a little differently.
“In the past, we have always rehearsed a
million times, got all our parts down to the point
where we could play them blindfolded. For this
particular recording with Lachlan, I wrote all the
songs at home in my bedroom, brought them
into the band, we
rehearsed them
maybe four times –
no one even really
knew the songs as we
came into the studio.”
With this album,
the band has been
using the studio itself
as a creative tool. For
Grigg, the perfect
example of this open
and creative approach
to recording is the
evolution of a song
called Runaway.
“We had this song
called Fuck Winter,
and we brought it
in and it’s this real
sort of boppy, upbeat
number and a tinge
of country but also
it was a heavy rock
song. It was really
good, real summery
and we were
jamming it out and
I think accidentally
played the chord and it sounded cool and then
Scott [Chapman – bass] played the wrong
chord. Then we’re all playing the wrong thing
until all of a sudden, we were playing this, dark
heroin-dredgy thick piece of music, and we’re
all just sitting on the A Minor chord looking
at each other thinking, ‘This is fuckin’ bullshit!’
right? So I’m like, ‘Stop, stop, stop – lunchtime’.
So everyone went to lunch and I sat in there
and wrote a whole brand new song from that
one little chord we were jamming on.”
Of course, it’s far easier and cheaper to do
that sort of thing these days because you can
record straight to ProTools, as Something
With Numbers have, straight into the digital
realm. Another reason for dropping the whole
heavy pre-production approach for this album
has been simply to try something different,
but for Grigg, it’s also been about Mitchell
giving him the confidence to do just that.
“He made me realise that you don’t have
to be ridiculous on the guitar to be able to
play. I didn’t start playing guitar until a lot
later than most people. I was always a singer
and I picked it up because I wanted to write
songs and stuff, but I played a lot on this
record and that makes me feel proud.
“On this record, we’ve really experimented a
lot with different pedals and different effects on
the guitars. There
are a couple of songs
where we specifically
tried to make
the guitars sound
like they weren’t
guitars, so you really
couldn’t tell what
the instrument is,
whether it was a
keyboard, guitar
or bass – so we
tried to make a
universal sound.
“In the past, all
we’ve done is plug
it into ‘the Marshall
stack and have a
whack’, you know?
This time we wanted
to make more of a
musical piece than
just a bunch of
songs. We’ve still
been going through
pedals into amps,
though sometimes
we’ll DI the guitar
part and then reamp it later, things
like that. I’ve just been using an Orange [amp],
‘cause I’m just addicted to reverb, so I always put
that reverb all the way up. But there’s like a whole
bunch of other boxes that make music in there.
“One of the main pedals we’ve been using is
the Pog. It’s one of those toys that you plug into
and you’re supposed to be recording and then
you find yourself halfway across the universe
in your mind, and you’re playing something
exotic and you realise everyone’s waiting for
you to record your take! It’s really fun.
“It’s on, I think, three track so far,” added
guitarist Trent Crawford. “I’ve been playing an
original ‘60s Gretsch Country Gentleman – I
borrowed it from a friend so I’ve had to give it
back – but besides that the Bill Nash Telecaster
has been getting a lot of play, and the Bill Nash
Stratocaster as well. The Les Paul is getting
a run – there are probably five, six different
guitars that have been getting used – the SG’s
been sounding really good, the mandolin’s been
getting a run – we’re goin’ for it. We’ve even
plugged the acoustic guitar into the electric
amp and been getting’ some stupid noises.”
Due for release early next year, the
as yet untitled album will be mixed by
Tim Carr at Studios 301 Sydney.
www.somethingwithnumbers.com.au
[14]
IN THE STUDIO
WITH
Melbourne Ska
Orchestra
Muso finds the Melbourne
Ska Orchestra kneep deep in
recording their debut album, due
out in March 2013. Sean Pollard
dug Nicky Bomba out of the
trenches for a chat.
W
alking down Johnston Street in Fitzroy,
there’s a street sign just opposite a
row of bizarre furniture shops (one
presumptuously decked out for Christmas trading in
early November) that reads ‘Juddy Roller’. A footy
fanatic might mistake it for a tribute to Carlton’s
chicken wing-loving captain, but most know it as the
totem for a top notch Chapel Street cafe housing
work by up and coming and established artists. On
this particular sunny Thursday afternoon, Juddy
Roller is also playing host to a gaggle of horn players,
most decked out in black and white checkered shirts
and hats. The reason? Nicky Bomba’s ska-based
behemoth, the 30-piece Melbourne Ska Orchestra,
have settled in just three doors down in Adelphia
Studios to record their latest collection of love letters
to the genre. With a tracking rate of roughly seven
songs a day, they’ll be needing some caffeine.
The studio is a hive of activity as we wander in
through its tiny and unassuming facade. Bomba
himself is in the live room going over takes with
vocalist Pat Powell, trying to nail down a ska-based
tribute to The Espy’s Gershwin Room. The two
engage in a lighthearted back and forth while trying
to get the phrasing perfect and the mood is suitably
relaxed. Several other members of the band are in
the kitchen and living area trying on a plethora of
new duds delivered to them by a ska-loving clothing
line from the UK. Melbourne Ska Orchestra as
a whole are also preparing for a signing party to
celebrate their recent deal with Four/Four music,
a subsidiary of the ABC, which will be releasing
the album they’re currently tracking. The deal itself
has allowed Bomba and longtime producer Robin
Mai to set up camp in Adelphia for the foreseeable
future, a unique opportunity to utilise a room
that normally acts predominantly as a rehearsal
space for the likes of Gotye and Kylie Minogue.
“Adelphia has been
in the family for many
years, ten or fifteen
years,” Bomba explains,
perched on a piano stool
surrounded by mics.
“The Greek brothers
(Ange, Phill and Kev
Andrianakis) run it.
A lot of big bands
rehearsed here, like
Kylie and also David
Hirchfelder did the
soundtrack to Shine
here. The first time
I saw the studio it
reminded me of Studio
1 in Jamaica - it’s just
got that sound. We’d
record something and
say to ourselves ‘that’s
got a distinctive sound’
and would usually
figure out that it was
in the way that we’d set
it up and the makeup
of it. I’d always said to
the brothers that I’d
love to make a studio
like this place one day.
When the opportunity
turned up and when
we signed with the
ABC – instead of going
into a studio, hiring
it and losing the vibe
that we’d built up here,
we said ‘why don’t we
pool our resources?’ So
the brothers put in their time, we pooled our
microphones, Robin’s gear, my gear and everything
and created our own studio right here.”
Bomba himself is a man who thrives on big
ideas like this. With a CV reading like a who’s who
and what’s what of Australian music over the last
decade, he is arguably best known for his work as
John Butler’s drummer, as well as his prolific solo
career and work as an in-demand session player.
As we find him right now, he is busy working on
a new record with Butler, touring his Caribbeaninspired Bustamento and, of course, tracking
with the Ska Orchestra. There is barely a dull
moment in his day as he runs around the studio
chatting to various visitors and showing off his
brand new, ska-styled Vespa. It would seem that
the only thing that phases Nicky Bomba these
days is the task of trying to relocate 30 ska-loving
musos to the same room at the same time.
“The hardest thing really has been the scheduling,”
he agrees. “Other than that it’s been surprisingly
smooth. We’ve been having clean days, starting about
11 o’clock and finishing about eight with time for
lunch and dinner. We haven’t whipped ourselves
into a frenzy or anything. We find that keeps our
heads in the right place. We tracked bass, drums,
guitar, organ, piano, horns and percussion all at
once. The only reason we wouldn’t have tracked
organ or piano is because the guys weren’t here. In
the end, we’ve allowed ten days but after the fifth
day we’d already tracked nineteen songs, so we
ended up just taking the day off. We’ll track all day
tomorrow and then Sunday will just be party day.”
The secret weapon behind this superhuman rate
of work is undoubtably producer Mai, the ARIAnominated workaholic behind records by Nick Cave,
Beasts of Bourbon, Daddy Cool, Augie March and
far too many more to list. Mai’s experience and deft
touch has allowed the
Orchestra to track as
fast as they can in a live
environment, netting the
laidback vibe required.
When recording a
live band, everything
has to be perfect. Mic
placement and the types
of mics themselves need
to be sympathetic to the
situation at hand. Ska
music is famously heavy
on the horns, and Mai’s
experience allowed
him to make the right
choices. “The horn
microphones were all
Neumann’s – two 87’s,
an 89, a 67 and a TLM.
The trumpet gets the
smoothest top end mic,
which is the 89, and the
other saxes have a very
similar setup, except
it’s the TLM, which
is a little bit lighter.
They’re great mics for
the job. They can be
distant and still get a
really nice top end.”
As far as outboard
gear goes, Mai and
Bomba are running a
relatively simple setup.
Again comprised of
pooled equipment, Mai
is utilising the latest
version of Pro-Tools through an iMac. Perched next
to the studio’s huge in-house mixing console is an
API-6B lunchbox with a JLM HPM500 mixer, four
JLM TG500 mic preamps and two JLM PEQ500
EQs. This sits atop a collection of Golden Age
Pre-73s. Also in play is a Shadow Hills Mastering
Compressor (belonging to Nicki) that features two
compressors and a selection of three classic console
output transformers. “When we record we’ll bring
in stuff like the Shadow Hills, JLMs, bits and pieces
and our engineer (Robin) and they’ll stay here,”
Nicky details, although Mai is obviously free to come
and go as he pleases. “When we’re not here though,
there’s still the converters, all the amps, the lines in
and everything. It’s all eighty per cent there and if
you want to bring in the extras - which we did - you
can.” All of these compressors and pre amps are
working to serve the sound fed in by Bomba and
Mai’s collection of microphones. Bomba is obviously
a man passionate about his mics and spends some
time detailing every setup and individual piece he’s
using. “We had the Shure SM57 on the snare as
that’s a bit of a classic sound, then we put in a bass
drum mic and a Royer ribbon mic behind the kick
as well to get that nice rumble that you need in ska
music. All of the guitars were individually mic’d up
with a Bayer 69, which is a really versatile mic, and
the Hammond has the PZMs already in there so
they’re part of the studio now. We just used them.”
Of course, no live recording would be complete
without some killer room mics. This is a fact that
Bomba and Mai knew well when they went into the
recording process, grabbing an OPR (Open Plan
Recording) Pill mic in conjunction with two Golden
Age Project R1 Active mics. “Spill is a natural part
of the sound. We embrace it and work with that.
So in the end, the room mics were an integral part
of the whole process. Fifty per cent of it. With all
our recordings, we don’t want it to sound slick and
polished and pristine. The music that we love and
that we’re drawing from has got that warmth. It’s
not about having full range frequencies, it’s about
having character and a bit of ambience.” Next,
the inevitable mixing process. A tough thing to
master at the best of times but with a project this
laidback, it’s not surprising to hear the duo will be
heading to Bomba’s property in Mt Hotham to do
it. “We’ve got most of the vibe down already,” Mai
explains. “So it’s really just going to be a case of
consolidating that and cleaning it up a little bit.”
www.melbourneskaorchestra.com
au.yamaha.com
[15]
[16]
Lee Oskar Natural
Minor Harmonica
REVIEWER: CHRIS WILSON
INFO: WWW.MUSICMERCH.COM.AU
“I
n full flight, nobody goes near him. Any
blues or soul singer, he can match,” said
blues singer Kerri Simpson in the last issue
of Muso about our guest reviewer Chris Wilson,
who has been an essential part of the Australian
blues and rock scene for over two decades. Whether
fronting Harum Scarum, Crown of Thorns or
belting out his own songs or classic soul and blues
tunes, Wilson is an out and out Australian music
legend and one of the finest blues harp players
goin’ around. He has just released a new album
called Flying Fish and can be seen gigging regularly
around the country. Muso is thrilled to have Chris
onboard this issue as a guest reviewer. Visit www.
chriswilson.com.au to learn more about him.
Lee Oskar came to prominence in the mid-’70s
as the harmonica player in the legendary funk/r&b
band War. You may recall them as the band behind
Eric Burdon’s hit, Spill The Wine, or alternatively
their own classic Low Rider. Oskar’s style was
atypical of the harp styles of the day. He preferred
a clean harmonica sound, which contrasted with
the heavily distorted Chicago blues sound that
many harp players went for. This allowed him to
play clean lines with the reed player in the band
or allowed him to double keyboard or guitar parts
without cluttering the lean tight sound of his band.
His style was innovative. He employed multiple
tunings, often changing harps within the one song.
Around the early ‘80s Oskar began work with
Tombo Harmonicas to produce a line of harmonicas
that reflected his playing philosophy. The timing
of this product’s release was all important. Until
this time Hohner harmonicas had held a virtually
unassailable position as the premier harmonica of
choice among players. Now they had a serious rival.
Oskar’s approach was simple yet radical. He
produced harmonicas in every key, including major
and minor variations - any scale that was playable
on a ten-hole diatonic harmonica was manufactured.
1
Any scale that could
be played on the more
cumbersome chromatic
harp was also made.
Which brings us to
the product at hand.
One of the first things
you notice about Lee
Oskar Harps is that the
actual holes are larger
than those of a Hohner
harmonica. Whether
the player prefers this
is an individual matter;
my guess is that this
is to aid accuracy
when playing. They
are generally
airtight, giving
ease of playing,
and this harp is
no exception. The
reeds are relatively
light, giving a bright
tone that cuts through
a band’s sound with
ease. This harmonica
was obviously designed
by a player for players.
Every aspect is designed
to give the user the
most creative freedom.
Traditionally
harmonica players play
in different modes
to deal with major
and minor scales in
songs. These are called
positions. Each of these
positions has its own
musical twists and turns
requiring various playing
techniques. Each
position has its own
flavor. With harmonicas
like the natural minor
harmonica, Lee
Oskar gives the player
another option when
approaching a piece of
music. It is built so that
the player can employ
CHRIS WILSON
all the skills
of bending notes
and tonal colourings
that a player learns,
whilst having the true
notes of a natural minor
scale available. It takes a
little practice to master
this harmonica but the
rewards are fantastic.
It brings a unique
colour to a tune and
I highly recommend
you give it a shot.
www.chriswilson.
com.au
Timberidge Guitars - TRC-4F
Dreadnought Cutaway
H
On first look in the
case, I certainly found
this dreadnoughtshaped guitar to be
visually pleasing. Solid
Cedar top, with clean,
smooth lines and a big
body. This lovely lady
comes with optional
adhesive scratch
plates in clear, black
and tortoiseshell,
but not having one
definitely gives the
body more room to
breathe. The matte
finish brings out the
natural grains and
tones of the Bubinga
back and sides.
Out of the case, it’s
asking to be played!
The Mahogany
neck and rosewood
fingerboard is smooth
and has great action,
making fingerpicking a breeze, and
makes for smoother
transitions and less
fret noise. Cross-
2
REVIEWER: NYSSA BRADSWORTH
INFO: WWW.JADEAUSTRALIA.COM.AU
aving never
heard of
Timberidge
Guitars before, and
knowing they were
Australian designed
but assembled in
China, I honestly
didn’t know what
to expect... but was
pleasantly surprised.
The B-Band A3T piezo pickup, with pre-amp,
has line level and mic level outputs. The onboard
controls are sensitive and precise, featuring low,
mids, highs and presence controls, as well as an
onboard tuner for extra convenience. Plugged
in, this baby packs a punch, but you do have to
experiment with the settings quite a bit to find
your own sweet spot. Once you find it, this guitar
could rival any Maton or Cole Clark, giving
clear and brilliant tones and a full bottom end.
Normally, smaller bodied guitars like Martins
and Mini Matons, are more ‘ergonomic’ for
the female performer, but this is one of the
more comfortable Dreadnoughts to play, sitting
and standing, and allows for smaller hands
to get around the fretboard comfortably.
The free (that’s right!) paisley case is
light-weight and quite pretty for the gals,
(indie for the boys!), and that new guitar
smell is always a winner for me!
Comparable to the Maton EM320
Dreadnaught, the Timberidge 4 Series is bright,
punchy and for under $700, a great first gigging
guitar, or second guitar for that louder, rockin’ gig.
Nyssa Bradsworth is a Melbourne-based
singer-songwriter. Check out her Facebook page.
Allen & Heath Zed60-14fx Mixer
REVIEWER: SEAN POLLARD
INFO: WWW.TAG.COM.AU
F
bracing in the body makes this a super-solid guitar,
allowing for very little movement over time, but it’s
very light-weight and easy on the shoulders. The
black Grover tuners are comfortable and easy to
tune initially, but I found that they did slip a little.
Acoustically, the Timberidge 4 series
Dreadnought is quite bright and clear with a very
even sound from the bass through to high tones.
I found the D’Addario EXP Long Life strings a
tad bright for my liking; however other players
may enjoy that tonal range. Unplugged, it has a
very mid-heavy sound that would cut through
any loud pub, but again, a bit more bottom end
would please this Soul/Blues/Folk performer.
GUEST
TEST
2
1
ounded in 1969, the Allen & Heath
company is based in Cornwall,
England. A&H made a name for
themselves initially by building a custom
quadraphonic mixing console for Pink
Floyd; the unit can be seen in the famous
Floyd film, Live At Pompeii. These days,
they’re known for producing high quality
sound systems and a wide range of mixers.
Pitched as the perfect mixer for smaller bands,
the Allen & Heath Zed6014FX is a versatile
unit with a huge number of features. As the 60th
addition to the UK-based audio engineers’ wellrespected ZED series, the 14FX has been touted
as a companion piece to the recently released
10FX mixer. Immediately, it’s clear that a lot of
love goes into Allen and Heath’s Cornwall-built
machines, as the unit comes in an eye-catching
dark green with nice maroon side plates. All
faders and pots are organised and everything is
in it’s right place, although drummers everywhere
will probably throw their hands in the air in
frustration when they realise that Allen and
Heath had guitarists in mind when they were
putting this particular mixer together. Two of
the eight mono channels provided have highimpedance jack inputs that can take a normal
level from a standard pickup – the idea being
that the guitar can be plugged straight into the
mixer without the addition of a DI box. The desk
also comes with an AmpliTube 3 free software
package for guitar processing, which includes 50
‘gear credits’ to add to the small but quality range
of stomp-boxes, amps, cabinets, microphones
and rack effects already featured here.
experience with
mixers of this size and
price. We did some
pretty lo-fi recording
with the unit and were
extremely happy with
the Ambient (echo)
setting – especially on
the lead vocals. The
effects centre itself is
easily located and not
intrusive to the overall
aesthetic on display.
It even has a USB
input, although many
have complained that
Allen and Heath have
left out a matching
cable for some
reason. No matter
– everyone seems
to have spare USB
cable lying around
these days. It was
slightly disappointing,
however, that we were
only dealing with
USB 1.1 and not
2.0 - maybe an idea
for the next model. In
summary, this would
be a great addition or
jumping off point for
anyone in need of a
smallish mixer for live
or recording needs.
As far as inputs go, we’re looking at eight
balanced XLR, two instrument and six line inputs.
Basically, if you’re a guitar band looking at buying
your own mixer for practise or recording – you’re
in luck here. Another feature of the 14FX is the
classy range of onboard effects. The delays and
reverbs all sound great and none of them have
that strange glassy quality you can sometimes
The focus on guitar
and addition of the
AmpliTube software
is a nice touch and,
with clean and easy
levels on all inputs,
the 14FX is a package
that’s hard to fault.
[17]
3
Pork Pie Big Boy Bicycle
Drum Throne
E
Resplendent in wavy purple
fabric, the stool was designed by
Pork Pie founder Bill Detamore,
an eccentric drum engineer who
has customised kits for the likes
of Guns n’ Roses, Blink 182 and
The Ramones. Detamore has been
quoted as saying that his imagination
is key to his success, and there are no
exceptions here. The stool (or ‘throne’)
comes packing a large and comfortable
bicycle-style base that is more than
equipped to handle the most ample of
drummer derrières. You really do feel like
you’re sitting on a cloud and no amount
of exertion can ruffle the Pork Pie’s rock
solid base. The piece doesn’t feature the
pivoting action of other throne’s such
as the Roc-n-Soc Nitro throne, and is
instead built as a solid single unit. In this
lies the throne’s only real problem – it seems
to be tailored specifically for larger drummers.
The height adjustment, although quick and
easy to manoeuvre, didn’t quite go low enough
for a smaller-framed drummer. Similarly,
for your Meg Whites of the world, the seat
might be a bit too large and uncomfortable.
Aesthetically, the aforementioned purple
fabric is offset by a wavy pattern and sparkling
plastic covering around the outside of the base.
The raised bicycle-style centre section allows
the drummer’s legs to lock right into place,
avoiding the slipping and sliding associated
with heavy kick drum or hi-hat work. There is
a real handmade vibe at work here, which sits
pleasingly at odds with its glamorous facade.
Proudly stating Betamore’s assertion that the
throne was ‘made by an American’ on the rear,
you can’t escape the feeling that a lot of time
and care went into the construction of the Big
Boy. When stacked up against your average
drum stool, well... nothing compares to it.
I
The EQ
section, or ‘Tone
Contouring’, Bass,
Middle and Treble
controls, are not
your standard bass
amp EQ. Normal
REVIEWER: SCOTT CHERRY
INFO: WWW.AMBERTECH.COM.AU
tone controls usually boost or cut the same
frequency. The BH250 controls multiple
frequencies for cut and boost. TC Electronic
TonePrint allows you to load signature bass
effects into your amp in seconds: Chorus, Flanger,
Vibrato, Octaver, Compression or Bass Drive.
BH250 can be hooked up to any cabinet,
or combination of cabinets (minimum 4
ohm load). The BH250 can also be run
as a Direct Input, so if you need to or just
want to travel light you can rock up to a gig
with your bass and amp in your gig bag.
So how does it sound?
It takes no time at all to dial in a great
full tone. The input gain accommodated the
output of both active or passive basses quite
well. For a small amp it kicks out an impressive
amount of volume, easily enough for most
gigs. And if the venue calls for more, ‘d-i’ it.
I loved that I could pack up after rehearsals,
put the BH250 in the front pocket of my Mono
gig bag, sling it over my shoulder, grab the
speaker cab and head to the car. And at $499, it’s
more than just a back-up; it’s easily a #1 rig.
REVIEWER: PAUL DENGATE
INFO: WWW.GALACTICMUSIC.COM.AU
B
Having overcome the early teething
troubles, Behringer products on the
whole behave very reliably these days.
In addition, the recent purchases
of Turbosound, Klark-Technik and
Midas have made Behringer’s R&D
as good or better than anyone’s.
And so we come to Behringer’s
new range of 12” powered boxes,
the B112D and B112 MP3. Both
models feature Class-D amps (that means
it has a “digital” amp and is therefore light
to carry at 12.3kg) and two-channel mixer;
plug in two mics or a mic and a line, do a bit
of rudimentary tweaking with the two-band
mixer (bass and treble) and away you go.
4
6
The MP3 designation lets you know that the
box has a built-in USB 3 MP3 player complete
with small backlit screen. You can plug a flash
drive straight in and hey presto! instant rehearsal
or instant backing track depending on your
situation. You can even set it to repeat a track for
rehearsing, straight off the flash drive - a neat
idea. There’s a line level “mix out” so you can pipe
the signal from the MPS and 2-mic mixer to the
other box. If you’re going to get a pair the logical
choice is to buy one with the MP3 player (RRP
$459) and one without (the B112D RRP $399).
Most importantly though; how do they sound?
They’re rated at 1000 watts - this is the latest
marketing ploy that all manufacturers are currently
employing. We see high wattage specs but no
5
You can also choose and load from an
impressive list of signature Artist TonePrints,
created by bass masters like Nathan East,
Charles Cave, Michael Shuman, Gail Ann
Dorsey, Mark King and Roscoe Beck.
So how can these signature bass effects actually
be loaded? There are two ways. First… Beaming!
Anyone who owns an iOS or Android device can
simply download the free TonePrint App and place
the speaker of the device over the magnetic pickup
of their bass. Now TonePrint/s of your choice can
be beamed through the pickups and cable directly
into BH250, which will adapt to become whatever
the TonePrint you selected. Alternatively, the amp
can be hooked up to a PC or Mac for loading the
TonePrints via USB. Once you’ve uploaded your
TonePrint you can dial in the required amount.
Behringer B112MP3 & B112D
Powered Speakers
ehringer have been with us now for around
20 years. In that time they’ve thrilled
and chilled us. They rewrote the book on
pricing, making a host of products available at
retail prices other companies could only dream
of... though sometimes the prices were a hallmark
of unreliability and trouble. This is what happens
to most pioneers and it was Uli Behringer who
pioneered the move to Chinese manufacture
many years before others would do so.
TC Electronic BH250 Bass Head
n the right
corner, weighing
in at just 2kg,
is the Swiss Army
Knife of the amp
world, the TC
Electronic BH250
bass head. As far as
modern bass amps
go, the BH250 is
simple and intuitive
to use. The front
panel has from left to
right a single input,
an active/passive gain
control switch, threeband Tone Contour,
the TonePrint control
(more on that later),
a built-in tuner and
mute switch, and
the master volume;
no room to spare
and more features
than it seems. The
rear panel sports
the power switch,
mains in, foot switch,
USB connection,
speaker out, aux
in, headphone out
and balanced XLR
out. So plug in and
select the appropriate
input gain setting
(active or passive)
[18]
5
REVIEWER: SEAN POLLARD
INFO: WWW.DYNAMICMUSIC.COM.AU
arlier in the
year, this
reviewer
had the pleasure
of heading to the
Rod Laver Arena to
witness one of the
strangest, funkiest,
most mind-blowingly
talented human beings
ever born perform
for two and a half
hours. Of course,
we’re talking about
Prince. His Royal
Badness himself
led a gun band
through a set of hits
that simply can’t be
paralleled in modern
music, whipping the
crowd into a frenzy
with their top notch
instrumentalism
and practised
showmanship. The
whole show was, as
every good live show
is, anchored together
by their skins-man,
John Blackwell – a
tour de force behind
the kit. What does
this all have to do
with a drum stool you
ask? Well, one look
at the Pork Pie Big
Boy Bicycle Drum
Throne and you’ll
agree, if Prince’s
drummer doesn’t
already use this stool,
he damn well should!
4
3
6
6
mention of whether
that is peak power,
average power or
Steve Power (producer
joke!!). So really all
you can do is to use
your ears and judge
for yourself. At these
prices, you may not
have high expectations
for a powered speaker
but these boxes are
actually pretty decent.
They’re competitive
volume-wise with
more expensive
speakers i.e loud
and reasonably clean.
The actual quality
is quite punchy for
a lightweight plastic
box with a top end
horn that does a
good job without too
much sizzle. I was
pleasantly surprised
overall. I tried them
as a vocal PA, played
some Led Zeppelin
through them and
stuck on some “house”.
So, good job, Uli.
This box is good
value for money
and will find a nice
niche where young
bands will get a good
starter system for
not much cash. Just
remember, kids, they
don’t cost $1200
each so use wisely!
Recording King Rd-327
Acoustic Guitar
REVIEWER: SEAN POLLARD
INFO: WWW.DYNAMICMUSIC.COM.AU
T
he first thing you notice upon picking
up the Recording King RD-327
acoustic guitar is just how shiny the
damn thing is. From blinding gold-plated opengeared Butterbean tuning keys that surround
a cascading flowery pattern on the headstock,
down the mahogany neck and ebony fretboard
adorned by diamond and snowflake-shaped
fret inlays, all the way to the impressive body
comprised of Adirondack Sprucewood with
Rosewood sides, it certainly is a sight to behold.
As an American company primarily dealing
with acoustics and banjos, Recording King
made a name for themselves selling exclusively
through the Montgomery Ward department store
(famously known as the company that invented
Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer) during the
Great Depression – a reputation that has been
maintained by the company through the years
and ultimately accounts for the old school vibe
of the instrument. These days, the parts for the
RD-327 (and indeed all Recording King guitars)
are made over in China before being shipped
back to the U.S for set up and assembly. This
particular model lands here in Australia
with a price tag of around $1,100, so
essentially what we’re looking at here is
a relatively inexpensive interpretation
of a pre-war dreadnought guitar.
Straight out of the box, the RD327 is a great guitar to play. The
wide nut lends itself to a multitude
of playing styles so whether it’s a
gentle flat pick, an energetic strum
or an acoustic finger-pick, it always
sounds great. A pleasing natural
reverb and even better sustain were
also present when we really started
getting stuck in, although the bass
response was a little bit lacking at times.
Another slight problem is in the projection of
the guitar, as it had nowhere near the booming
qualities of something like a Martin D1 - a guitar
with which Recording
King models are
often compared.
This was generally
not a problem when
tracking though as
we used the guitar
through a few
different mics and
found the recorded
sound produced to
be extremely versatile
and strong. Even
through a basic Shure
SM-57, the RD327 carried a big,
distinctive sound and
sat really well within
a slightly rowdier
track. With no
pick-up on the body,
recording versatility
really does need to
be this instrument’s
bread and butter, and
the RD-327 did not
disappoint. It’s a fancy
guitar, no doubt, and
the amount of lacquer
on the body gives off
a slightly cheesy vibe
to this reviewers eyes,
but if you’re looking
for a dreadnought
that won’t break the
bank, sounds great
and aligns itself
with that golden
age of American
guitar playing, the
Recording King RD327 is a great buy.
Hi Watt T40 combo
7
I
t’s a Thursday
afternoon and I
look out of my
office window here at
Sound on Stage (www.
soundonstage.com.au)
and what do I see? A
brown cardboard box!
Hmm. The distinctive
HIWATT logo gives
it away. This’ll be the
T40 combo then! I
lean down to brace
myself to carry it into
the office and it’s not
too bad! Probably
about the same weight
as a high-gain head.
So into the office
it comes and in plugs
the Strat. This classic
British amp company
has been around for
a few years now, with
everyone from Noel
Gallagher, The Killers,
U2 and even Take
That … ahem yup
that’s right, Take That,
becoming synonymous
with the brand.
It’s a pretty sturdy
little number, more of
your Russian farmer
girl, short and wide,
built for ploughing
the fields, rather than
the Sports Illustrated
model, but definitely
with the curves in the
right places. It’s built
well, with a definite
classic vintage feel.
8
9
REVIEWER: BARRY GILMOUR
INFO: WWW.CMCMUSIC.COM.AU
So how does it sound? Well, if you want a Jazz
Chorus, buy a Jazz Chorus; this is a little rougher
round the edges but still clear as a bell, and the
dirty side is tight and rich and with very little
preamp distortion, the grunt really coming from
those tubes. Channel one really will give you that
gorgeous blues tone and switching to two with
the button on the front or the separate footswitch
(sold separately) will have you crunching away for
hours with glee. It’s a definite contender for the
regular player who actually has a gig most nights
of the week but no roadies to lug gear around;
not too big and won’t tax the back too much.
As far as physical appearance goes, the
D-0R3 would certainly not jump out at you
sitting on the racks at your local guitar dealer.
It features a simple yet subtle Canadian sitka
spruce sound board and bracing that sit well
with the Canadian maple body-binding and
rosewood back and sides. Oh Canada, eh?
These beautifully put together parts lead
up to a single-piece mahogany neck
with an African ebony fretboard and
bridge, which allows your fingers
to literally glide across it, such
is its ease of use and feel. This
is where the D-03R really
comes into its own. It may
not be amazing to look at,
but man is it amazing to
play. Straight out of the
box the action is perfection
and the complexity of sound
on display after just a couple
of strums is stunning. The first
thing this reviewer noticed was the
bass response running through the maple
wood body, a balance that resonated so well
I had to check my surroundings to make sure
I wasn’t in a cathedral (or, more realistically, a
bathroom). This is tempered by a clear, crisp
treble that really picks up the detail in any
You can dial in a tone pretty quickly and I really
like having separate gain controls for both channels,
although EQ is shared for both. The fact you can
switch between 40 and 20 watts is a bonus for
those who need to practice at home while mother
is still watching Housewives Of Beverly Hills, or the
girlfriend is one step away from making sure you
wear odd socks to work, but at the same time this
little bad boy will keep up with the rest of your gang
when you’re out there at Rooty Hill RSL delving
into your vast repertoire of AC/DC numbers.
All in all, it’s a pretty versatile amp. If you’re
using foot switches or a pedal board you’ll get
what you need from this without too much
messing around. It’s not a true high-gain amp
by today’s standards but it’s good. I can’t say I’ve
used HIWATT before but by all accounts it still
captures a little of the classic HIWATT sound.
7
9
REVIEWER: SHANNON BOURNE
INFO: WWW.JADEAUSTRALIA.COM.AU
T
Tokai’s “Les Paul”
style instruments
have been catching
my eye for a while
with just their sheer
quality. You’d be
kind of hard-pressed
to know really.
So, this month I
have one of Tokai’s
latest “vintage”
style instruments,
and it is something
right up my alley…
JAZZMASTER!
This instrument
has that classic off-set
body shape that hangs
so nicely. It’s finished
in a very ‘60s-looking
Lake Placid Blue and
features a rosewood
fingerboard, solid
alder body, sturdy
Gotoh hardware,
two PAF-style
humbuckers, one
volume and one
tone, a threeway toggle and a
REAL Bigsby B5
s a Canadian-based manufacturer,
Larrivee have a pretty stirling
reputation for producing top notch
acoustic guitars. They say everything is a little
bit sweeter in Canada, and these hand-crafted,
all solid wood instruments are no exception.
In fact, Larrivee as a company were given the
unique honour of producing the first guitar to
be sent into space. Their Parlor model guitar
accompanied Col. Chris Hadfield, the first
Canadian to man the International Space
Station, on his many orbits around the earth.
It’s slightly ironic then that, as we look at the
Larrivee D-0R3 acoustic electric, it would be
hard to imagine a more down to earth guitar.
10
Tokai Vintage Series AJG-88
he Tokai
Company
has long
been known for their
high quality builds
and collectability
for some of the
older models (SRV
played an early
Tokai Strat Style
guitar and indeed
was an endorsee).
Overall this is a
versatile instrument
that you should be able
to manipulate to get
whatever sound you’ll
be wanting and at priced
at $1799 with a tweed
case, I’d say it’s a winner!
9
8
kind of playing.
Whether you’re
really letting fly
or just laying back
and strumming a
few chords, every
tone produced
was top notch.
This model also
arrives complete
with custom Larrivee
pickups which, when
plugged into a fairly
standard home PA,
sounded even and
smooth. Even when
pushed to breaking
point, there were
no problems with
feedback or perceived
need for a buster,
which makes the
D-03R a viable
option as a stage
guitar as well as a
studio instrument.
Seriously, the more
you play this guitar,
the more impressive
it becomes. Its classic
Canadian woods
and handmade feel
allows it to produce,
sonically, something
of the subtlety its
exterior would never
imply. It’s easy to
play, amazing to hear
and hey, if it’s sturdy
enough to be played
in orbit where angels
fear to tread, it surely
is ready for anything.
EG-1 Traveler Guitar
REVIEWER: SHANNON BOURNE
INFO: WWW.HAWORTHMUSIC.COM
s plane flights become cheaper
so does the amount of baggage
we can take. I have always felt
that musicians were unfairly treated
in this way and I would rather get
on a plane and arrive well rested as
opposed to crawling up the highway
in the middle of the night and feeling shit for
the gig. Call me a wuss but hey… whatever.
The number of tones this instrument can
produce almost makes it a “one-stop shop” for
choices. You can get killer surf tones, lots of
“shoegazer”-approved ambient stuff, throaty
rock’n’roll tones a la Neil Young, some fairly
good country twang and smoky jazz tones.
All you really have to do is work the guitar
a bit. I’ll admit that I’m a fan of the Bigsby
unit but… they really need to be set up right
and worked in to get them smooth enough.
Next thing I tried was a
fuzz pedal. The tone was
thick and stinky… but I
was still able to clean
it up with the use of
the volume control.
10
A
Vibrato Unit. It brings the entire
twang, chime and rock solid tone
you’d expect from a custom instrument
but without the hefty price tag.
For testing this guitar I first ran it clean
into my old Gretsch amp (Supro) 2x12 combo
and the sound was very solid except for the
fact that I think it needs heavier strings.
The pickups pump out just enough
juice to put the amp into the
crunch zone whilst retaining
string-to-string definition.
The neck is a matt finish,
which makes it super fast.
The frets really need to be
dressed better with some of
them just being slightly too
sharp for comfort. I also think
the finish is just a little too
thick… but I’m only picking.
REVIEWER: SEAN POLLARD
INFO: WWW.PROMUSICAUSTRALIA.COM
A
The Fane speakers that come as standard
have also been around for a good 50 years
or so and were the first ever speaker to
be rated for 100 watts, keeping up with
demands of the manufacturers in the ‘60s.
When it comes to the crunch, this amp has some
breeding and it’s from a respectable pedigree. The
price is spot on and for what you get, I’d be hard
pressed to fault it. It’s a quality amp, with threetone EQ, push-pull mid frequency control and great
construction. The only thing missing is a footswitch!
Larrivee D-0R3
Being rather sceptical about the whole “tiny
traveller” guitar world I was quite surprised at
how much fun and how much I actually liked
the tone of this thing! First off it doesn’t look
like a cricket bat and it features a very nice
“vintage gold” finish. You can plug headphones
into it or run it into a set of little speakers,
and it also has an INSANE drive unit built
in and the whole thing in about the size of a
violin when in its case (overhead luggage).
The only way I can describe the “headless”
design of this guitar is that they cut the
headstock off and placed it in the back of the
guitar, thus placing the guitar tuners either side
of the strings! This design doesn’t make for quick
tuning but it does make for a smaller design.
The neck feels quite nice and features an
ebonised rosewood fingerboard with 21 frets.
The single humbucker pickup in this guitar
sounds magnificent! It has a clean
and articulate tone that is well
balanced. It isn’t a ridiculous high
output thing so you can get a lot
more from it by running overdrives
and such but I feel that the tone
control could be voiced better to
allow more tonal variation.
I actually first tested this
guitar with my headphones
and was surprised (and
deafened) by the built-in
distortion! Make sure the
guitar is turned all the
way down before plugging
in. The resulting tone
was nothing short
of incredible! It was
like having instant
“Billy Gibbons” tone
right there inside
the guitar! Amazing!
The sounds were
just so thick and
makes for a powerful
touring asset. You
could arrive off your
plane flight and
hire an amp with
reverb and tremolo
and pretty much
plug straight in and
cut the whole gig.
Plugged into a real
amp, the tone of this
distortion comes out
even more. I found it
easy to get notes to
feedback and backing
down the volume
doesn’t actually take
the drive level down
- it only affects the
volume of the guitar.
Big thumbs up
to Haworth Guitars
for making available
this aesthetically
pleasing and toneful
traveller guitar that
doesn’t hurt your
pride… $729 is
money better spent
on this than having
to pay ridiculous
excess baggage fees.
[19]
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[20]
10/12/12 2:14 PM